Category Archives: Vietnam

Vietnam Notebook: YouTube Video Collection

An PAVN T-54 tank crashes through the gates of...

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Check out various YouTube vids of the Vietnam War. See Khe Sanh and Con Thien, Hue, and the Fall of SaigonMore>>

The 19th Century in Vietnam– From Gia Long to Paul Doumer

President of France Paul Doumer (1857-1932)

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the French theory of colonial exploitation held that the colonies should enrich the mother country, but all Paul Doumer could do was to bring self-sufficiency. He could raise enough through his taxes to support the cost of the huge bureaucracy and that was about it. The French talked about their civilizing mission, but in fact the result for the peasant was social dislocation and impoverishment. The French did build up the economic infrastructure—railroads, bridges and the like—but by and large it benefited only the wealthy and the French themselves… More>>

Cambodian Coup (March 18-20, 1970)

Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia visiting C...

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On this date:

March 18 – 20, 1970 Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia is deposed by General Lon Nol.

Sihanouk, who had been out of the country at the time of the coup, had been walking a fine line for years between the Americans and the North Vietnamese– he allowed the U.S. to conduct strategic bombing against NVA targets inside Cambodia while at the same time he was the one who granted those same NVA troops sanctuary within his borders. Sihanouk was desperate to keep his country out of the fighting war so he played both ends against the middle, and was remarkably successful at it. In the end it was his inability, or lack of effort, to stop supplies destined for the NVA and Viet Cong from traversing his ports and countryside that finally led the US to support his removal… More>>

Battle of Dien Bien Phu Begins (March 13, 1954)

Viet Minh AAA artillery at the Dien Bien Phu M...

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March 13, 1954 – Outnumbering the French nearly five-to-one, 50,000 Viet Minh under Gen. Giap begin their assault against the fortified hills protecting the Dien Bien Phu air base….. More>>

Or DienBienPhu.org

Or Bernard Fall on the Battle of Dien Bien Phu